The Fortune Hunter

The Fortune Hunter is a drama in three acts by W. S. Gilbert. The piece concerns an heiress who loses her fortune. Her shallow husband sues to annul the marriage, leaving her pregnant and taking up with a wealthy former lover. The piece was produced on tour in Britain in 1897, never playing in London.

Gilbert was the librettist of the extraordinarily successful Savoy operas, written in collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan. Their last work together was The Grand Duke, produced in 1896. Gilbert's later dramas were mostly unsuccessful, and The Fortune Hunter was no exception; its poor reception provoked Gilbert to announce retiring from writing for the stage.

Beginning in 1871, Gilbert and Sullivan wrote fourteen comic operas together. Most of these were tremendously popular, both in London and on tour. Their success eclipsed Gilbert's playwriting career, during which he produced dozens of plays. While many of his comedies enjoyed success, some of his dramas, particularly the later ones, did not. After his 1888 flop, Brantinghame Hall, Gilbert vowed never to write another serious drama again.

During the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1889 comic opera, The Gondoliers, Gilbert sued producer Richard D'Oyly Carte over expenses of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership. Sullivan sided with Carte, and the partnership disbanded. The lawsuit left Gilbert and Sullivan somewhat embittered, although they finally collaborated on two more works. The last of these was The Grand Duke, opening in March 1896. This was the least successful of the Savoy Operas, lasting for only 123 performances. H. M. Walbrook suggested the reason for this, writing, "It reads like the work of a tired man... There is his manner but not his wit, his lyrical fluency but not his charm... [For] the most part, the lyrics were uninspiring and the melodies uninspired. Isaac Goldberg added, "the old self-censorship [had] relaxed".

By March 1897, Gilbert was ready to get back to work. He suggested to producer Richard D’Oyly Carte and his wife Helen Carte that he write a libretto for a new comic opera based on his earlier play, The Wicked World. Carte declined this offer, but years later, Gilbert followed through on this idea in Fallen Fairies. A revival of Gilbert's comic opera Princess Toto was also briefly considered, but Gilbert balked at Carte's suggested revisions. Instead, Gilbert turned to writing a new contemporary drama, The Fortune Hunter, commissioned by Edward Willard. But Willard was not satisfied with Gilbert's drafts, and the manager of the St James's Theatre, who had asked Gilbert for a play, found it unsuitable. Gilbert then offered the play to May Fortescue (the original Celia in Iolanthe) for her touring company. The snobs and valet in the piece are based on an 1869 Bab Ballad, "Prince Il Baleine".

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